Jesus' Temptation
Unit 7, Volume 20, Week 2
Hi there parents! Welcome back! Or if you're new here, welcome! The following blog is here to be used as a tool by you to help your kids grow in their faith while we can't be meeting weekly during this pandemic. Please feel free to use as much of it as you choose. You know your kids and are the best possible teacher for them. God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do more than you think possible (Eph 3:20).
May I encourage you with a verse from Deuteronomy about teaching your children the scriptures? Chapter 6 verse 9 says, "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Maybe you don't have time to sit and have an hour of Bible time all at once, or maybe your children are to young to sit for that long. Take the key points and ask God to give you opportunities to speak them into the hearts of your children throughout the week. Let the Bible become a part of your day to day. Be blessed this week my friends!
Each week we will include songs, activity pages, the bible lesson video, memory verses and possibly a craft or 2. We pray this will help you find ways to engage your kids spiritually. It is written in script form from the K-2nd grade lesson so you can read directly from it or change it up to suit your children. Take a few moments to print the activity pages as well as the additional activities and review the lesson so you can make adjustments as needed. I have included the Bible and Discussion questions along with a breakdown of the Gospel in the Older Kids Activities pages and loads of activities and crafts on the Preschool Extra Activity Pages. Once you are ready, go ahead and start with these songs if you'd like or pick some of your favorite worship songs and then jump right in! Have fun! And remember, this does not need to be done in one sitting! Feel free to break it up over the course of the week. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. I'd love to hear from you!
So let's get started. I like to begin each week with Blessings and Bummers. Tell me, what have you seen the Lord doing in your lives during this time at home? What have your greatest blessings been? How about your biggest bummers?
Parents share your blessings and bummers, and encourage the kids to do the same. Here is mine. This week my 8 year old followed the directions and put together his own Lego car by himself! He had never done that before. It is such a blessing to watch my kids grow up and experience new things. My bummer is that my 15 year old fell off her horse and hurt her foot which means she can't ride for a few weeks. Thankfully it isn't serious and she'll be good as new before we know it!
Let's pray. Father God, you are so good to us! Thank you for continuing to bless us Lord. Thank you for our toys as well as our families. Help us to appreciate all you do for us and to look to you in all that we do. Be with our friends and families while we can not be with them in person. In Jesus name, Amen. (please add to or customize prayer time to fit your family)
Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers! As you grow up, there are many new things you will do and see. Some of those things will be good, and some may be sad or difficult. One thing that everyone has done is sin against God. Everyone except Jesus, that is. Today we will learn about a time Jesus was tempted to sin. How do you think Jesus fought temptation?
Before we do that, let's take a look at our Big Picture Question!
In a lot of situations, we face all sorts of temptations. In fact, even Jesus faced temptation to sin. The difference is, while we sometimes choose to disobey God, Jesus never did. Today, I want to share with you that story.
Jesus faced temptation because Jesus is fully human. Our big picture question helps us understand the Father’s plan. Why did Jesus become human? Jesus became human to obey His Father’s plan and rescue sinners. Because the fair payment of sin is death, the only way for sinners to be saved is though the death of a perfect sacrifice. Because Jesus is fully human but never sinned, He was able to be the perfect sacrifice we needed.
After Jesus was born as a human, He grew up. We learned last week that Jesus obeyed God by being baptized. Baptism is a picture of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and those who believe in Him are baptized to show the world they belong to Jesus. Last week, we specifically looked at the death and resurrection of Jesus. He was arrested and put to death even though He had never sinned, and He rose again to prove death was defeated. Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope for eternal life. But before Jesus' death and Resurrection, He was lead into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.
Let's watch this weeks video to learn more...
Here is a tricky question for you: Why would it have been sin to make bread? [Allow responses.] It is not usually sin to make bread, but the devil wanted Jesus to stop obeying God. Jesus was in the wilderness without food because that is what God’s Spirit told Jesus to do. If Jesus had chosen to use His power to make stones into bread, He would have been disobeying God. Jesus never used His power to satisfy His human desires. He used His power only to glorify God.
Each time Jesus obeyed God, He used a Bible passage to resist the devil’s tricks. But did you notice what the devil did the second time he tried to make Jesus sin? The devil tried to twist Scripture to make it seem like something sinful was not sinful. Thankfully, Jesus is more powerful than all the forces of evil. God’s plans never fail, and Jesus saw right through the devil’s lie.
Jesus resisted all three of the devil’s attempts. Jesus was tempted and never sinned. He remained perfect, just like He had always been and always will be. So when the time came for Jesus to obey God by dying on the cross, He was the perfect sacrifice just as God planned. Because Jesus died on the cross for us and rose again, we can gain the power we need to resist the devil too.
Everyone who trusts in Jesus is a new creation. God forgives our sin and gives us new hearts that love and want to obey God. God also sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and fill us with His power. We will still be tempted to sin, but with the Holy Spirit we can choose to obey God.
The devil tried to get Jesus to sin, but Jesus never sinned. Jesus always did the right thing. Jesus died on the cross to rescue us from sin. When we are tempted to sin, we can ask Jesus to help us say no to sin.
Bible Time!
Help your children find Mathew 4; Mark 1; Luke 4. Ask which division those books are in. (New Testament, Gospels) Then ask which other book is part of that same division. (John) Then ask them to briefly explain what that division contains. (the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry, as well as His death and resurrection) Consider showing Jerusalem on the New Testament Israel Map shown here.
Ask the following questions. Lead your kids to discuss:
Why was Jesus in the wilderness? (The Spirit sent Him there to pray, fast, and be tempted by Satan; Mark 1:13; Matt. 4:1-2)
What did Satan tempt Jesus to do? (turn stones to bread, jump off the temple, and worship Satan to get riches and power; Matt. 4:3,6,9)
How did Jesus fight against temptation? (Jesus quoted Scripture to remember what is true; Matt. 4:4,7,10)
Why do we face temptations? Guide kids to think about why Satan wants people to sin. Remind them that Satan wants to prevent people from glorifying God and keep Christians from living the way God has commanded us to live. We also have sin natures that desire sin and selfishness. We are tempted when we dwell on sinfulness and when Satan tries to get us to disobey.
Can we resist temptation? Discuss the difference between people who trust in Jesus and people who do not. Help kids see without Jesus, we cannot avoid sin. Remind them, though, that everyone who trusts in Jesus has the Holy Spirit living inside. Christians can use the power of the Spirit and the Word of God to fight temptation and obey God.
Why is it important to resist temptation? Help kids see that Christians cannot lose their salvation when they choose sin, but sin still dishonors God, hurts us, and hurts those around us. We resist temptation not to earn God’s love, but because we love and trust God that His commands are good for us.
• Jesus was tempted and never sinned. When we face temptation, we can resist it through the Holy Spirit’s power and the Word of God.
Let's look at our key memory verse together:
Read the key passage with the kids. Use sticky notes to cover the a word or two of the key passage. Challenge the kids to say it again, adding in the missing words. Repeat this process until the whole passage is covered and kids say it from memory.
Say • John wanted his life to bring Jesus glory. John knew that Jesus is the most important person of all. We can also give Jesus glory when we love and obey Him. Jesus was tempted and never sinned, so when we are tempted we can ask Jesus for help to obey Him. That’s a great way to glorify Jesus.
Let's sing to praise God and learn our verse together.
The devil tried to convince Jesus to put His human needs before His obedience to God. Jesus was tempted and never sinned. Instead of turning stones into bread to eat, Jesus used God’s Word to defeat the devil. These remembrance rocks can help us remember to fight temptation so we can glorify Jesus with our lives.
That's it for today. Thanks for joining us. Let's pray:
Father, thank You that Jesus was tempted and never sinned. We know that He perfectly understands our suffering and pain but also perfectly obeyed You at all times. Help us love You more and obey You as Jesus did. Give us the wisdom to seek You when we face temptation. Amen.
